Preach Right Here Mix

Hello. I am a complete novice when it comes to mixing. I have been doing my best to learn from books, forums and the internet. I used to think mixing was just about panning and set volume levels. I never realized just how much work goes into mixing. I just recently discovered the Mixing Secrets Multitrack Library website which provides tons of free sample songs for people like me that want to learn and gain practice mixing.
 
This is my first mix from that website. The song is called "Preach Right Here" by the band The Butterfly Effect. I have included my mixed version of the song and the song with all 26 tracks as it was downloaded from the website so you can hear the difference between the mix and they way the song was left to be mixed.
 
I am always seeking advice and criticism. I can take it. :)
 
Cheers.
 
Song as downloaded:   https://soundcloud.com/god-z/preach-right-here-original-before-being-mixed
 
Song as mixed by me:  https://soundcloud.com/god-z/preach-right-here-mixed-version
 
 

There they are!

Thanks Starise. The funny thing is right at the end of doing the mix I decided to drop a few db's on vocals and bass. Maybe I shouldn't have.
I panned all the guitars to where I felt they had their spot in the mix. I am trying to train my ears to recognize troublesome EQ'ing issues. But that is probably going to be a lifelong learning quest.
I did listen to the track in mono and it seemed ok.
I did one other mix just before this one (at least since learning a bit about mixing). I recorded myself doing a cover of "A Pair Of Brown Eyes" by the Pogues. But that was a fairly simple mix with a small number of tracks that didn't have to fight for a spot in the mix. With this mix I did go listen to it in the car (I read that most mixers do reference their songs in a car system and I quickly learned why).
Thanks again.

Thanks Andy and Starise for your input.
 
I can tell right now that my listening environment is less than favourable (I am Canadian and we love sticking "u"s in our words. LOL). I am currently set up in the dining room. There are no acoustic treatments in the room at all. I am using KRK Rokit 5's as my monitors but I did just recently buy Auralex pads to sit them on. Unfortunately I am going to have to make do with this setup for a while. I also use Audio Technica M50x headphones to mix but not when EQ'ing.
 
I am slowly learning the characteristcs of my monitors especially where the bass is concerned.
I originally had the bass level higher in the song but dropped it a few db's because I thought it muddied the mix too much. Probably the wrong thing to do. I should have maybe sculpted out room better for the kick drum and bass guitar better with EQ. Then I would be able to bring the bass up a bit.
I did just go listen to the song in the car. I definitely want more definition on the kick and bass guitar with a bit more volume in both.
 
Looks like I am going back to EQ'ing again.
 
Cheers.

Hi Chad,
 
Not quite given up just yet...
 
Would you mind if I posted a link to my attempt here, rather than creating a new topic? I'm not in competition with you by the way, but I think it would be a waste of a post seeing as it's the same song.
 
I won't post here until you give me the thumbs up 
 
cheers
 
andy

theguitarplayer
Good luck and try a free download of the Izotope Ozone 6 and link it to Sonar or Cakewalk products.

 
Hi John,
 
Someone else mention Ozone here recently. I had a look at that tool then and it looks great. The problem for me, at the moment anyway, is it's outside of my budget. Perhaps in the future I may seriously consider this tool. In the meantime, I'm making an effort to learn the tools that I do have, like Pro-Q 2 and Pro-L, which is what I am mainly using at the moment for mixing and mastering.
 
cheers
 
andy

god-z
I am curious what you did with the drums. You did a great job with them.

LOL! Pure fluke I'm sure hehe...
 
Well... I did play about a bit with the drum tracks provided. What I did straight away was create a buss for the drums, and I output all of the drums to to that first.
 
I stuck an instance of Pro-Q 2 on each effects bin, including the Room track, and I messed around with the EQ of each, removing high frequencies, or low, and sometimes mid, where I didn't think they were needed, and so made room for other "things."
 
Panning wise, I left Kick, KickSample, Snare, SnareSample, Overheads and Room in the centre. Tom1 I took to 40% right, and Tom2 to 20% left, and I did this to match, as much as possible, the sound of the toms coming from the Overheads.
 
Level wise, I wasn't 100% happy with the Kick and Snare tracks, and so brought them down to around -7.5dB but left KickSample and SnareSample up at 0dB. That was because there was too much carry over of the other kit elements for my liking... Unavoidable, of course, bit seeing as they provided the KickSample and SnareSample tracks, I decided that I would use those upfront, but still leave enough of the original recorded kick and snare in the mix to "keep it real," if you know what I mean.
 
I lowered Tom1 and Tom2 to -4.4dB and the Overheads down to -3.1dB. But I lowered Room down by quite a bit really, to -18.3, which is not much at all. I did this because I'm not experienced in using room mics in a production. But, again, I left some in because I thought it might add something to the mix, even if it wasn't all that obvious.
 
Of course, those levels are further effected by each track's EQ settings, which is a bit too much to go into here methinks...
 
At the drum buss, I added an instance of Pro-Q (again) and used its "out of the box" drum EQ setting, which I tweaked a little. I also added an instance of Pro-L, which also has an "out of the box" drum preset, which, again, was tweaked, mainly to boost the level. It might be the limiter (Pro-L) that you are hearing... I'm not sure.
 
I had created a stereo buss which I use for reverb (Breverb 2) and that was set to Ball Room, with the dry setting set to off. I added a send on the drum buss to the reverb buss, and set the send level to around -2.9dB. I tend to lower all the sends like this, bit more so with the drums, and the level of the reverb buss is dropped a tad too, so that it is not too overwhelming. I love reverb, and it is so easy to over do...
 
I think that just about cover it. And reading back kind of shows me how much time I've spent playing with this today 
 
I hope that helps some... Although it's more luck than judgement on my part haha! I just mess around until I think I like what I hear.. And when I hear the real thing it's back to the drawing board..........
 
cheers
 
andy

god-z
Have you tried Drum Replacer yet? When or if you do, let me know what you think of it. It's a another great tool.

 
Hi Chad,
 
No, I am currently on Sonar X2 Producer and at the moment I am reluctant to upgrade because a) my set-up is working fine and b) it's just more money that I would rather spend on other things.
 
I remember, some time ago, doing drum replacement for the band I was in at the time, and I did it the hard way. Even though, at the time, Drumagog was the thing to use.
 
I'm surprised myself how good my drums have worked out, relatively speaking. I mean, I sure they could be improved upon no end by someone who knew what they're doing. I've just pumped that mix of mine through my TV surround sound system and I really do like my kick, for some reason. Okay, not the best sound system in the world, by a long chalk, but that kick does, erm... kick LOL.
 
I know what you mean about the sampled kick and snare though. I wasn't too sure about using them myself at one point, but it may be that, with the combination of a bit of the recorded drums, along with the samples, and then some overheads and room on top, has worked. As I said earlier... more luck that judgement.
 
cheers
 
andy